In this video, I'm going to show you the best back
exercises to do every single day. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in Saint
Joseph, Michigan. In this video, I want to share with you
some of my favorite mobility exercises that can be done on a
daily basis. Think of it as a daily oil change for the back
that just keeps everything maintained. They're very easy,
very effective, and can be done in bed, first thing in the
morning. As a note, all of these exercises are going to
hit the back and the muscles around the back just a little
bit differently. So, go through all of them. Take what is most
effective for you. So, get started and get the back
feeling better right now. This exercise is known as the super
rock back and it's one that I personally created that is
going to target so many things. Pretty much from the upper back
all the way down to the pelvis and hips. You can do this one
in bed or on the floor. Let's start off on all fours just
like this. The first part, what we're going to do is known as a
frog rock back. I'm going to take my feet and I'm going to
place my heels together just like this. I'm then going to
angle my knees outwards. Keep sliding them out until you feel
a very good stretch in the inner part of the leg, also into
the hips. From there, I'm going to tuck my chin towards my
chest and then simply lower my butt down towards my heels. The
further that you go down, the more intense the stretch is
going to get. So, challenge yourself. Get a very good deep
stretch but make sure that it does feel comfortable. Once we
hit that comfortable stretch, let's hold this position for
twenty seconds. Do nice, slow, controlled breathing also. Just
let that tension on as much as you can. From there, let's go
back up to the starting position just like this and
then we're going to show the hips some love. What I'm going to
do is lift one foot up like this and then turn my leg
outwards just like this. What this will do is put a lot of
good rotation into the hip. You should really feel it
stretching right through here. So, focus on that. Once we hit
that point, let's hold this for twenty seconds. From there,
we're going to come back to the starting point and then just
simply do it on the other side. From here, what we're going to
do is a little bit more rotation to target into the
upper back all the way down to the lower. So, I'm going to go
back into my original position right here and then, I'm going
to take one arm off, keep it straight at the elbow, and then
just simply rotate my whole body up towards the ceiling
just like this. So, try to reach up towards the ceiling
with that hand. You should feel a good stretch from the upper
back all the way down to the lower. Hold this for twenty
seconds. From there, we're going to do it on the other
side. In the last part, we're going to do a plank position. So, I'm going to go
back to that starting point. Put my arms out just slightly
in front of me like this and then I'm going to lean forward
with my body weight, my whole body. You should really start
to feel the core muscles engage right here. You should
also feel the legs, glutes, buttock, and also back start to
engage also. All of those muscles help support the spine.
So, really try to focus on that even more so feeling the front
here over the core. Let's try to hold this for fifteen to
twenty seconds. From there, you're just going to relax and then
just simply repeat this exercise. On the next
repetition, challenge yourself to stretch more into it because
it's only going to activate those muscles and hopefully
lead to less issues into the future but you want to do this
for three to five complete repetitions. So, here's a
wonderful back exercise known as a seated figure four or
pigeon pose. It's going to put a lot of emphasis on our
pelvis, hips, glutes, and is known as the piriformis muscle.
If you're unfamiliar with the piriformis, it can cause a lot
of pain including what is known as pseudo sciatica. This one you
can do at the edge of a bed or in a chair. We just need to sit
right at the edge, have very good upright posture. Let's
take one leg, bring it up just like this to the point where
our ankle is going to be supported on our leg and when
you look down, it should look like a figure four starting to
be formed. If this is a hard position to get into, just
bring one leg like this. You can grab right here at the
shin, slide leg up just like this or just grab at a pant leg
and then bring it up like this. The goal is to pretty much try
to let this knee go down towards the floor as much as we
can. A lot of people that have a tight piriformis will notice
that this is about as far as it will go. That's okay. Just
allow gravity to take it at the beginning. From here, what
we're going to do is use our upper body weight to do all of
the work for us. Let's take our hands, place them on the hips,
and then just pivot forward. We don't want to round our back
into this. We want to pivot forward from the waist through
the hips. When you do this, you're going to feel a very
good stretch into the lower back, off to the side in the
glute buttock, into that piriformis, also the hip. If
the leg is tight, you'll probably feel it there but keep
leaning forward until we hit a very deep but comfortable
stretch. You want to hold this for twenty to thirty seconds.
Do nice, slow controlled breathing also. Let that
tension out. From there, you're going to come back up. You're
going to relax and then you're going to do this for three to
five times. Each time go just a little bit deeper into it.
Stretch it out even more challenge yourself. To take
this to the next level, let's focus on dynamic movements to
stretch the muscles just a little bit differently. So,
instead of going forward all the way like this, what I'm
going to do instead is have very good upright posture and
then I'm just going to lean my shoulder towards the side of
that hip. So, if I have my right side up like this, I'm
just going to take this right shoulder and lean towards my
right. What you'll notice is is that this hits the muscles just
a little bit differently. The more that you lean into it, the
more that you're also going to feel it stretch right through
here into that QL or quadratus lumborum. So, really focus on
that. Try to hold this for twenty to thirty seconds,
relax, and then you're just going to simply go towards the
other direction and repeat. You want to throw a couple
repetitions in on both sides three to five times. From
there, we can take this one to the next next level by doing a
little bit more rotation. So, what I'd like to do with this
one is is I'd like to pivot forward again and then from
there, once we feel that initial deep stretch into the
piriformis. What I'm going to do is just simply rotate in the
opposite direction. So, I'm turning my whole back and body
towards the left and this can become a very deep intense
stretch. So, again, only to your comfort level. Try to hold
this for twenty to thirty seconds. You're going to relax,
stretch into a little bit more and then do the same thing on
the right. You want to do that three to five times. Go through
all of the motions. If you feel that leaning towards one side
or rotating towards one side gives you the best throw more
repetitions in, focus on tightness, achiness, and just
getting rid of that through those movements. Two of my
absolute favorite back exercises are two yoga poses
known as the child's pose and the cobra, and when you put both
of them together, you pretty much hit everything from the
upper back all the way down to the lower. You get the best of
both worlds. So, let's start with the cobra to begin with.
You can do this one in bed or on the floor. The key is what
we want is to make sure the hips all the way pretty much
from the legs down to the toes are kept flat on that surface.
We're not trying to arch them up. We're always keeping them
flat. Let's start off with what is known as a press up or a
half cobra. So, I'm going to prop myself up on my elbows
just like this and you should feel a very good stretch
happening into the lower back all the way up to the upper.
Really focus on that. Once we had a very comfortable stretch,
we're going to hold this for twenty to thirty seconds. Do
nice, slow, controlled breathing all just let that
tension out. If you feel that this is very comfortable, you
can hold it for an extended period of time. I've seen
people hold it for several minutes and get a lot of
relief. So, just hold it as long as you feel comfortable.
If this position is too easy, what you can do from there is
the full cobra. So, instead of going up on our elbows, what
we're going to do is press up with our arms like this and
this becomes very intense. You'll also feel it in the
front of the legs. The key again is to keep the pelvis and
hips flat. Don't arch them up like this. What we want to do
from there is then build into the child's pose. So, what I'm
gonna do is just bring my knees up like this til we're on all
fours. I'm going to take my hands, place them out in front
of me like this. Arms are going to be straight at the elbow.
Let's do a chin tuck towards the chest and then I'm going to
simply lower my butt down towards my heels. This will
activate the muscles just a little bit differently. I
usually feel this one more in the upper back. The key with
this one is to take the chest and just let gravity take it
down the bed or the floor as much as possible. You should
feel a very good stretch in the upper back and between the
shoulder blades also down into the lower back. So, we want to
hold this one for twenty to thirty seconds. Again, doing
nice, slow controlled breathing. If it feels
comfortable, you can hold it for longer but from there,
we're just going to build back into the cobra and simply
repeat. On the next repetition too, what I would try to do is
stretch more into it because it's only going to help
activate those muscles and hopefully at that point, just
make it where we're having less issues into the future. What we
can do to take this one to the next level is instead of going
straight, let's angle our body just a little bit towards one
direction and then repeat this exercise. When I lean more
towards the right, you're going to feel it off to the side.
This is going to hit a muscle called the QL or quadratus
lumborum which is a big instigator of back pain. So,
experiment with this. Go all the way towards the right,
repeat this and then go all the way towards the left and do the
same. If you feel that this is just hitting some really tight,
achy muscles, throw some repetitions in there because
those definitely need attention. And you can do the
same with the cobra pose. So, instead of going all the way
straight up like this, what I'm going to do is just simply
angle my body in one direction. So, experiment with it, go
through the angles, and use what is most effective at
hitting any tight and achy muscles but you want to do the
cobra and child's pose combination for three to five
complete repetitions. If the video helped, please support
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